Monaco eSIM
Data for Monaco on Monaco Telecom, from $53.89. It never expires, tethering is included, and refills land on the line you already have, with nothing new to install.
- Networks
- Monaco Telecom
- Typical speed
- 84 Mbps typical, 25 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans for Monaco
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $53.89 | $53.89 |
Every plan works the moment you land. Unused data returns to your wallet when the line closes, and customers get at least 100 MB of free rescue data a month even at zero balance.
What 84 Mbps actually means in Monaco
Typical download speed on Orbislo in Monaco: 84 Mbps. That sits close to the Europe median of 71 Mbps, which makes Monaco an unremarkable place to be connected, in the good sense.
The tenth percentile is 25 Mbps. That gap between the median and the floor is normal and it is where the frustration lives: the connection is quick most of the time and noticeably slow in the busiest few percent of moments, typically at transport hubs at peak hour.
At these speeds nothing on a phone is limited by the connection. Video calls are comfortable, a laptop can be tethered for a full working day, and large photo backups finish without planning around them.
Which networks you will be on
Orbislo carries traffic in Monaco on Monaco Telecom, the single upstream network available in this destination. Where two networks exist we buy both, because the difference between one and two is the difference between a bad afternoon and a bad trip.
This matters more than the headline speed. Almost every travel eSIM sold today resells a single upstream agreement per country, so when that one network has a bad hour you have a bad hour with it and your only option is to buy a second eSIM from somebody else. A profile with more than one network behind it can make a decision you never see.
5G in Monaco: yes, non standalone. Worth knowing that 5G on a travel profile is normal rather than special, and that the tenth percentile above is the number that will decide how the trip feels, not the generation label in the status bar.
What data costs in Monaco
A 500 MB plan for Monaco starts at $9.07, which is $0.02 a gigabyte. That is the number to compare between providers, because a headline price attached to a different allowance tells you nothing.
The comparison most providers would rather you did not run is cost per gigabyte actually used. Independent surveys of travel data put the share of purchased data lost to expiry between 20 and 35 percent, because a plan that expires on day thirty deletes what you did not get through. Orbislo data has no expiry date, so the gigabyte you paid for is still there on the next trip. At the same headline price that is 25 to 40 percent more usable data, and in Monaco it means the effective cost is nearer $0.01 a gigabyte than $0.02.
Because nothing expires, the cheapest way to buy for Monaco is to buy slightly less than you think you need and top up if you run out. Topping up takes about ten seconds and does not involve installing anything. Buying too much is the expensive mistake everywhere else and merely a neutral one here.
Landing in Monaco
Install before you fly, on your home wifi. The profile downloads while you still have a connection you trust, then sits dormant until you land in Monaco and it attaches to Monaco Telecom.
On landing there is one thing to check: data roaming has to be switched on for the Orbislo line. It is off by default on both iOS and Android, and it has nothing to do with roaming charges here, because the plan is prepaid and there is no bill to run up. Turn it on for the Orbislo line and leave it off for your home line, and your home number keeps working for calls and bank codes without costing anything.
What is restricted in Monaco
- France-only plans: Most French operators do not let a plan restricted to use in France work in Monaco. Travellers on a France-only package should expect calls and data to stop at the border and check their contract before arrival.
- ID for a local line: Opening a Monaco Telecom line requires a valid identity card or passport, and the subscriber must be an adult unless a parent gives written permission. Monaco Telecom can also verify identity electronically, by analysing the document and a video of the customer's face.
Worth knowing about Monaco
- A phone brought into the Principality picks up the Monegasque network. Subscribers of the French operators Bouygues Telecom, SFR, Free and Orange connect to it the same way they would on leaving France.
- What that costs is each operator's own choice rather than a right. The government says every French operator applies its own price list here and that most of them fold Monaco into their Europe zone, so in most cases there is nothing extra to pay, but a traveller is told to check with their own operator first.
- Data has to be switched on deliberately. The advice given to visitors is to turn on the data roaming setting before expecting the internet or any app to work on arrival.
- The single shared network took effect on 5 March 2024. Before that, subscribers of SFR, Bouygues and Free inside Monaco relied on about ten French antennas, while the Monaco Telecom network runs on more than forty.
- For phones on the Monegasque network, emergency numbers are open and routed to Monegasque services: 17 for the police, and 18 or 112 for the fire brigade and medical help.
- Dialling changes inside the Principality. A French number must be called with +33, some 08 service numbers only answer as +33 8, and saved contacts may need the same format, while a Monegasque number no longer needs +377.
- If automatic network selection is switched off, the phone shows no service in Monaco. The fix is to turn automatic selection back on, or to pick Monaco Telecom by hand from the network list.
- French antennas stand right at the border, and some phones cling to them after entering Monaco. After complaints in March 2024, Bouygues Telecom added a specific configuration so its customers' phones move onto the Monegasque network.
- Monaco Telecom lists blocking handsets reported stolen as a legal obligation, so a phone declared stolen can be barred from its mobile network.
How Monaco compares across Europe
- Regional typical speed
- 71 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- One network, Monaco Telecom
- 5G
- Yes, non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Lithuania, 86 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Latvia, 82 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 1: Monaco
